I have done Hai Van Pass twice so after the climb stay up the top for 30 minutes or so walk around the old bunkers have a drink,then when you head into Danang on the right in the main street is a place called Mollys Coffee on a corner stop there for a feed before you head to Hoi Ain.
I stayed in the town before the pass so I could get a early start I think town is Lang Co Beach or something like that.
No Simon, the French dude didn't get back to me but I met a Danish bloke in Phong Nha who had just ridden the remote Western section on a motorbike but he did it from South to North. I had previously heard that they stopped people riding that section only when going North to South for some reason but don't know if this is true or not.
Plenty of hills on the Sthn section but I was riding big days 130 odd kms with 1300mt climbing so I could make it to Saigon in time. Would be much more comfortable with an extra week & do that bit in 60-70km days with only half the amount of climbing - plenty of accom available as you know.
ok, but from BMT to Dalat is 206 km on Google map and there seems to be no accommodation in between. Is there any kind of accommodation on that route?
There is plenty of accom along that road.
See here. http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=2121931&messageID=19435644#19435644
See the last post from me which details all accom and the road NOT to take.
TPHCM on km posts stands for Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh = Ho Chi Minh City.
QL on km posts means Quoc Lo = National Highway
TL on km posts means Tinh Lo = Provincial Highway
HL on km posts means Huong Lo = Local route
Warning: Vietnamese km posts usually refer to the local name of a town and not the official name on maps. For example, in Khanh Hoa Province km posts say Dat Set, but the official name is Dien Xuan. Similarly, maps say Tra Lien, but km posts say Tra Lien, Khanh Le or Lien Son; and the map name for Dien Khanh town is always, always shown on km posts as Thanh.
Also remember that when asking locals for diections, they will almost invariably give the local nam and not the official map name, which can be very confusing.
Edited by: ralphnhatrang
Thank you, Ralph and Simon. These are all very helpful. I will dynamically adjust my route according to my actual pace with these information printed out along.
I am pleased to be able to help. If you would like to meet in Nha Trang, send me a note via Thorn Tree or a private message when you arrive.
i'd love to. Unfortunately the PM is still not working yet. Can I reply to this post if I am close to Nha Trang? But that would be close to Christmas day so if you're not free it's fine.
Simon @9, that section I did when VN 1st opened to travelers, so was a while ago, war memories were raw. I just went and accepted problems if they happened. The 1st day I was arrested. Was interrogated rather than questioned. Serious stuff. After passing that was shown around and allowed to continue. There and on the trip were the nicest friendliest people I’ve met in VN. Fantastic scenery. Definitely the best part of my VN trips. Very much mtbing rather than road cycling. Then concerns were unexploded ordinance and drug smuggling route.
Things may have changed but I’ve only heard rumor that others have got through.
The route thing. People do seem to go nth > sth. No real logic. I’ve done coast each way and inland. HW 1 has the popular tourist visits. Greater population and services. HW1 from Nha Trang to SGN there’s not much. SGN to Dalat is a little mountain traditional. Dalat is nice. A big motivation for going north is that taking in Dalat it’s a gentle climb from SGN. A vicious climb from Nha Trang. And the Hai Van Pass is definitely an attraction, the south side a gentle climb. From the nth is serious gradient.
Hi David, good to hear from you again.
That bit of the HCM sounds pretty tough. I don't really think it is meant to be a proper highway, more in name. The lowland Eastern HCM os shorter and has new road built for it between Dong Hoi and Dong Ha. It then joins the DMZ road back to highlands, so all the Western HCM is well bypassed.
Maybe I'll hire a Jeep for the Western section??
Re going south from Nha Trang, there is a new coast road by airport to Cam Ranh to chop off a bit of H1, then after a day's riding on H1 you can take the coastal road to Mui Nee. This road continues all the way to Vung Tau from where you can get a boat to Saigon. I did it last year, good route.